A Guide to HIV/AIDS Epidemiological and Surveillance Terms

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Frequently Used Terms in HIV/AIDS Monitoring and Epidemiological Research in Canada

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The table of contents lists terms defined in this guide.

Terms are listed alphabetically.

A term entry may have other related terms listed in this guide.

• If the listed term definition includes other frequently used terms contained within this guide, these other terms appear in the definition in bold. These terms are only bolded the first time they appear in the definition.
• If other terms contained in this guide are related to the term listed, but do not appear in the definition in bold, these other terms are provided in parentheses following the entry of the listed term, e.g. CASE (See also AIDS CASE).
• If the listed term is further explained in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section, the number of the FAQ is listed in parentheses following the entry of the listed term, e.g. EPIDEMIOLOGY (See also FAQ 23).
• If a term is listed because of its frequent use, but is best defined under another term listed in this guide, a reference is made to the other term, e.g. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE (Refer to DEMOGRAPHICS).

An example of how the term is most frequently used in reporting or describing HIV/AIDS is also included where appropriate

in boxes

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Table of Contents

A

AIDS CASE (See also AIDS CASE REPORT, CASE)

AIDS CASE REPORT (See also AIDS CASE, REPORTED AIDS CASES, and FAQs 6, 8, 9)

AIDS DIAGNOSIS (See also FAQs 8, 16, 17)

ANONYMOUS HIV TESTING (Refer to HIV TESTING OPTIONS)

ANONYMOUS UNLINKED HIV TESTING

B

BASELINE DATA

BEHAVIOURAL RISK FACTOR (Refer to RISK FACTOR)

C

CASE (See also AIDS CASE)

COHORT

COHORT STUDY

CO-INFECTION

CONFIDENCE INTERVAL (CI) (See also STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE, P VALUE)

CUMULATIVE INCIDENCE (See Appendix)

D

EMOGRAPHIC PROFILE (Refer to DEMOGRAPHICS)

DEMOGRAPHICS

DENOMINATOR

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

E

ENDEMIC (See also EPIDEMIC)

EPIDEMIC (See also EPIDEMIOLOGY)

EPIDEMIOLOGY (See also FAQ 23)

ETHNIC CATEGORY (See also ETHNICITY REPORTING)

ETHNICITY REPORTING (See also FAQs 8, 14)

EXPOSURE CATEGORY (See also FAQs 1-3, 8)

EXPOSURE CATEGORY HIERARCHY (See also FAQ 1, 3)

F

FOLLOW-UP DATA (Refer to BASELINE DATA)

H

HIV POSITIVITY RATES (See also PREVALENCE)

HIV TESTING OPTIONS (See also FAQs 4, 11)

I

INCIDENCE (See also INCIDENCE RATE and FAQs 18-21)

INCIDENCE DENSITY (See Appendix)

INCIDENCE RATE

M

MEAN

MEDIAN

METHODOLOGY

MODE

N

NOMINAL/NAME-BASED HIV TESTING (Refer to HIV TESTING OPTIONS)

NON-NOMINAL/NON-IDENTIFYING HIV TESTING (Refer to HIV TESTING OPTIONS)

NOTIFIABLE DISEASE (See also FAQs 6, 7)

NUMERATOR (Refer to DEMONINATOR)

P

PERSON YEARS (See also INCIDENCE)

POINT PREVALENCE (See also PREVALENCE)

POPULATION AT RISK

POSITIVE HIV TEST REPORTS (See also REPORTED AIDS CASE, and FAQs 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18)

PREVALENCE (See also POINT PREVALENCE, PREVALENCE RATE and FAQs 18-22)

PREVALENCE RATE (See also POINT PREVALENCE)

PROPORTION

P VALUE

Q

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH (See also QUALITATIVE RESEARCH)

R

RANGE

RATE (See also RATIO)

RATIO

REPORTABLE DISEASE (Refer to NOTIFIABLE DISEASE)

REPORTED AIDS CASES (See also AIDS CASE REPORT and FAQs 6, 8, 14, 16, 17)

RISK FACTOR (See also FAQ 3)

S

SELF-REPORTED DATA

SENTINEL SURVEILLANCE

SEROCONVERSION

SEROCONVERSION PERIOD (See also SEROCONVERSION)

SEROCONVERTER (Refer to SEROCONVERSION)

SERODIAGNOSTIC DATABASES

SERONEGATIVE (Refer to SEROSTATUS)

SEROPOSITIVE (Refer to SEROSTATUS)

SEROPREVALENCE

SEROSTATUS (See also SEROCONVERSION)

STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE (See also CONFIDENCE INTERVAL)

SURVEILLANCE (See also FAQs 6, 7, 23)

T

TRENDS

V

VOLUNTARY HIV TESTING (See also ANONYMOUS UNLINKED TESTING)

W

WINDOW PERIOD (Refer to SEROCONVERSION PERIOD)

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